Relentless federal and state enforcement authorities have seized more than $12m worth of illicit tobacco during a fresh series of raids across North Queensland.
Across multiple days, Australian Border Force, Queensland Health, Queensland Police Service and the Australian Federal Police seized more than 5.89 million illicit cigarette sticks, 1.2 tons of loose-leaf tobacco and more than 18,800 vapes.
The haul, part of Operation BEAR and BEAR-CUB, has a combined estimated duty evaded and street value of $12.5m.
ABF Superintendent Tracie Griffin said that as part of a coordinated, multi-agency approach, “we are disrupting organised crime groups and dismantling their hold on the illicit tobacco market across Australia”.
“Every seizure the ABF makes offshore, at our border, and within the country removes illegal products from the community and strips millions of dollars in profit from the hands of organised crime.
“Our agencies are united in our efforts to identify, target and dismantle these networks wherever they operate.”
The ABF said the raids that included officers from the ABF Townsville District Office and the ABF-led Illicit Tobacco Task Force (ITTF) began on March 3 with the execution of a Tobacco and Other Smoking Products warrant at four storage units in Jubilee Pocket.
Officers seized over 479,800 cigarette sticks and 267 cigars during the searches.
On March 5 and 6, officers from ABF Townsville and the ITTF, working in partnership with the QPS, executed 11 Customs Act seizure warrants and four Police Powers and Responsibilities Act warrants across 13 locations in Townsville, including residential premises, storage sheds and a warehouse.
“During the warrants, officers seized more than 2.5 million illicit cigarette sticks, 50kg loose-leaf tobacco and 8,000 vapes,” an ABF spokesperson said.
“(QPS) also seized approximately $300,000 in cash and a large quantity of mobile devices believed to contain evidentiary material relating to money laundering activities and further illicit importations.”
The spokesperson said further busts occurred at multiple storage units in Garbutt on March 10 and 12, resulting in the seizure of more than 2.5 million cigarette sticks, 1170 kg of loose-leaf tobacco, 10,880 vapes and 390 nicotine pouches.
The spokesperson said ABF officers were at a residential property related to the investigation, when they found a suspicious van with tobacco products inside the vehicle.
“Officers subsequently executed Customs Act seizure warrants and seized a further 420,000 cigarette sticks.”
Investigations remain ongoing.
AFP Superintendent Adrian Telfer said the AFP and its state and Commonwealth partners were “committed to combatting organised crime’s grip on the illicit tobacco trade in Australia”.
“Illicit tobacco has fuelled violence and crime in our communities and this activity is another step in law enforcement’s efforts to disrupt illicit operations,” he said.
“The AFP and our ITTF partners work closely every day to target and dismantle criminal activity, and protect the community.”
Anyone with information about the importation of illicit tobacco should contact Border Watch at abf.gov.au/borderwatch.
Extracted in full from: https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-townsville/massive-illicit-tobacco-operation-dismantled-in-series-of-townsville-raids/news-story/606c4fc88cd14fbc10062559b539a1fc
